‘Scratch card vending remains untapped goldmine’

It a time many people are desirous of setting up shops and startups, one area which offers a lot of promise in terms of return on investment is scratch card vending, yes scratch cad vending is the next big thing. And that’s the verdict of Mr. Eniola Fayose.

Fayose should know because he runs O’NAPHTALI, a company that specialises in production of scratch cards and holograms. According to him, scratch card vending is one of those brisk businesses.

Speaking in an interview with The Nation recently, he said of the business, “The business has always been there and has been making its great contribution to the economy of the country. It has enhanced the business life of many nations in lots of way. It can rake billions of naira to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if the necessary supports and inputs are channelled in that direction.”

The involvement of local investors in scratch card business, he insisted, has changed the story of millions of people, who ordinarily should have been roaming the streets in despair. “Today, these people are in one productive venture or the other because the scratch card business has put them in business. It is a multi billion naira business because right now Nigerians are looking up to it. In foreign countries the business is highly thriving, but Nigeria is just waking up to explore the business. We are among the few ones that had set the process going to meet the growing demand of the scratch business in the country. We need all the encouragement we can get. Loans should be made available for those who seek to explore the venture and friendly business climate should be made available to those who are selling the products to the end users.”

On the caliber of those who vends scratch card, Fayose said: “There is no special skill required to sell scratch cards, therefore it is capable of serving the interest of the illiterate and literate who are desirous of selling the cards. That is why someone whose business is to grind pepper, take advantage of the uniqueness of the business to sell the cards in the front of his premises. You see many youths selling recharge cards under the shade of an umbrella. It does not cost must to be a retailer of recharge cards. So, from what we can see, it takes a lot of youth out of crime. These youths would have been jobless but since recharge cards business is not capital intensive, they could easily eke a leaving out of the sales of scratch cards. The higher level you have the big time retailer who also sell in bulk. We have them across the Lagos and in country in general. It can create five million jobs in a year within the Southwest and the North. You have these cards sold by lottery operators who are earning their living from it. It is a job creation avenue.”

On who he set up shop, he recalled that his foray into the business by accident. “I started when a company called me to inquire from me whether I am aware of any company that does scratch cards locally. They needed to provide students who would use it, to enable them register online. I learnt some lessons from the inquiry, and as an entrepreneur, I believe I could take up the challenge. If that was the case, why don’t I go and learn how to produce it and fix the problem for them. I took it as a challenge, sat down to reflect on the possibilities. I took the initiative liaised with someone and started writing codes using locally sourced materials. But, from that time I have partner with some companies that had asked us to produced 50,000 cards. We have a company that produces 1,000,000 cards in a day. We have actually produced scratch card running into millions without looking outside the shores of Nigeria for materials.”

While speaking on the challenges associated with the business, he said inadequate power supply remains an albatross. “There are challenges because producing scratch card these days is capital intensive but at the same time power generation is a major factor affecting the industry. Some of the materials used for it are not sources locally, therefore you have to get some foreign exchange to be able to bring the material. With the growing exchange rate the business hasn’t been easy lately.”

On how to prevent fraudulent scratch cards from circulation, he said, it is absolutely difficult to fake the ones made with Silicon.

“That is IT aspect of it, it is very difficult to fake a scratch card produced using the Silicon as a seal. There can be attempts but it will always be fished out by the IT. It is very rear to scratch a card and the numbers quoted on it fail to respond to the appropriate command. For those not sealed, you may detect some fraud but the IT always takes care of such manipulations. “